Your Death Is My Life [ON HOLD]

Your Death Is My Life ~ Prologue

Crashing through the undergrowth, the girl pushed forwards, ignoring her burning lungs and legs. She could hear them thundering along behind her, but they weren't going to catch her. Grabbing the trunk of the nearest tree, she swung up into the lower branches and clambered up until she found a branch strong enough for her to crouch on. The group following stopped as well. From where she was perched, she counted 14, no, 15 males, hulking and all dressed in black.

"Spread out!" yelled one of the men, "Find her! I don't care if she's dead or alive!" As the girl watched, a small smile of amusment touched her mouth as the men began walking around. After 5 minutes or so, she could not see any of them except their leader. Suddenly, she stood up, balancing on the branch, and pushed herself against the trunk into the thick ivy that was creeping up towards the small amount of light that was shining through the canopy above.

"Why, hello Sir Letherson!" the girl called from her hiding place. Her voice seemed to echo around the trees, making it hard for the group on the ground to locate her too quickly, "Long time, no see!"

"Well, well, Miss Harland. Surely you, of all people, could hear us coming." the man called Sir Letherson shouted back mockingly, he was standing no less than 50 feet away, any move she made he would see. If she could get him to turn, then maybe she could slip away.

"Certainly I heard you, smelt you as well, smelt your fear." she teased, trying to keep the boastfulness out of her tone, "Are you scared of me, Nathaniel?"

Nathaniel laughed. "Scared? Of you? Your humour is priceless, Miss Harland, though I doubt that's a quality noted on your CV, is it? Remind me, what is it you do?"

Quoting his words from earlier, Miss Harland sneered, "Surely you, of all people, don't need reminding of my line of work."

Nathaniel laughed again. "Still witty, as ever. That is one trait that has never died in you." A sudden shout came from behind Miss Harland's tree.

"She's up there! In the tree! Up there!" All the men were back and now in a circle around the base of the tree. Nathaniel whipped round, searched the tree and found her ankle-booted feet on a branch. Looking further up he could just make out her bare shins, brown boy-shorts , thick, black, weapon belt, dark blue t-shirt, white jacket and hood and finally to her face. Her eyes were shining in the dark, straight in his direction. A smile tugged at his lips, as always, she'd gone for the sex-appeal assassin. It was a good thing he knew better than to be drawn in by her looks.

"It was nice talking to you Miss Harland, maybe we can talk again." he lifted a crossbow and aimed directly at her. Pulling the trigger, an eight inch long, thick arrow flew at lightning speed towards her chest. Quick as a flash, Miss Harland reached up and hauled herself onto the next branch up as easily as if she were a monkey. The arrow whizzed past her ankle and buried itself deep into the hard bark of the tree.

"I'm sorry, Nathaniel. Were you hoping to be rid of me today?" Miss Harland laughed, "You never learn, do you? But rest assured, you'll be seeing me again, I don't doubt it." With that she pushed forwards and leapt onto the branch of a neighbouring tree, leaving Nathaniel yelling orders at his men, "Don't just stand there! Fire!" But Miss Harland dodged all the arrows, blew a raspberry at Nathaniel and leapt off into the forest.

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Thanks for reading :)

JessieCowgirl

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